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Servants Summon Arc: Mirror Mirror
The following takes place on 24th May, immediately after A Gentleman Calling. Prologue (序) "Eh?" Hanako Kochisake looked around her in confusion. All the eyes in the room were now focused on her. Two allies and two servants, and four dolls if you counted their faceless appearances. Daisy, her best friend in the world had just only moments told her that it was her turn after summoning her Assassin-class servant only just recently. "Well, it would be a shame to waste what's left of Bran darling's blood while it's still fresh. There is still plenty left, so you don't have to worry about shedding more just for your sake." She referred to the bucket of Bran's magus blood that he had ordered his own servant, Saber, to slit his wrist to release it. There had been between three to four pints originally, but were now closer to just under two having used it to summon Daisy's servant in this very room. Everyone was a competent and suitable master for servants of the Hoky Grail. All, except for herself. Daisy, as was well known, had been inducted into the Magus of Colour, serving as the Magus of Yellow, the third highest in the order. A crowning achievement at her age especially, and a perfectionist in the magecraft of utilising dolls of various makes and models. Nicholas as well had been a Magus of Colour; the Magus of Black to be exact. Though it was the lowest position within the order, he served his purpose well enough to have served a good ten years in that role. It was his initiative that lead to the groups separation from the Mage's Association, and forming the Black Faction after his abandoned title. Even Bran, who was an ignorant to using magecraft as a tool for fighting, had an exceptionally high number of spirit circuits of his own. Even more so was his hereditary blood which allowed him to channel and tap into it with greater ease than most common magus. She was a failure as a true magus. She didn't have the spirit circuit quality necessary to produce any form of magecraft. The most she was able to accomplish was crafting the command seals, but even then she had no power to endow unto them. She was unqualified to become a master. She felt her feet retreat ever so slightly, and then her mind was only focused on following on from that. Now she was being asked to do the same. "But, I can't. I-I can't!" Without another word, she rank from the hall and into the isolation of her own room. Chapter (一) Buried under her covers, and her head encased between her pillow and her mattress, Hanako intended to remain out of sight to whom ever wished to intrude. How could they, how could Daisy of all people, expect her to become a master of a servant herself. She was a weak magus. She was abandoned for her weak magic circuits after all. There was no other need for any other explanation. She had been thrown away for being a failed product. She had no family. None that had ever come to claim her that is. It wasn't like she hadn't been curious growing up. Indeed, she had access to the histories of the Mage's Association and she made use of it when it finally came to her to start researching. But, it was all for near nought when her finds came up empty. She found out about a lot of many different histories and lore and some background that may have been tangible. None of it, however, was of any use to her. She did the right searches, starting with what she knew about herself and worked from there. The first obvious start was to her own name. There was no birth certificate, not one that she had access to without stirring someone else's curiosities. She had a name though; Kochisake, her mother's maiden name, had no notable familial magus skills or traits. The name contained the same kanji, but there were no photos for her to compare her own appearance to any member, least of all her own mother's. The last surviving member was one Kochisake Akako. Her disappearance almost seventeen years ago from the present coincided too perfectly with Hanako's own birthday. She could find little else other than that. She had no memory of her, considering she was dead just moments after herself own birth. Hanako could remember a scream, a woman's scream in the dark. Whether this was her's or a figmented trigger that had been conceived within her own nightmares. With a dead end here, she looked at her own reflection and took notes on that instead; Purple hair and purple eyes. This, and many other similar colours and shades were a notable trait of the Makiri clan, who became the Matou. She had only to find pictures and portraits of a long extended family with a history of declining quality of magic circuits to match She was delivered to the Mage's Association by the late Zouken Matou himself. Or, what was left of him to be more correctly put. She only hear that it was a gesture of goodwill that he sent her to the association. She suspected something else, given after what she had found out. Hanako had no memory of him either. The only thing that ever made her feel terrified was the sound and chirps of insects. Thousands of tiny legs rattling and cricketing across the floor and over the walls. It was enough to make anyone regret ever thinking about sleeping. Anything with mandibles or pincers would send her into a black out the moment she laid eyes on it. Even the one's whose bodies were on display in a state of lifelike preservation would send her into a fit of rocking and swaying until she was near about ready to collapse from motion sickness. There was no need to beat around the bushes or try to layer the truth with an alternate perspective of things. She was just another failure. The last in a line of a dying legacy and a sacrificial lamb. It was the only thing that compensated for her awful genetics was her innate knowledge of command seals, a magecraft exclusive of her Matou heritage. She had no control over whether they would have actually worked, but she had such an eye for detail and hands that knew where the works should glide that each one was a priceless work of art at the last brush. Had it not been for the grail accepting her creations as general seals for summoning servants, she would have made nothing more than simple stylistic tattoos. She hadn't intended to join the war. Her quarrels were not with either the Church nor with the Mage's Association as the others were. She didn't agree wit the grail's choice to bestow her own seal with power either when the other four had been presented with the same gift. She knew the moment that her seal became real that she was selected, but that she had resolved herself to wait out the initial summons and for her mark to become obsolete again. She chose to follow Daisy out of the Association because she was Hanako's friend. Hanako had no wish for herself. Not that she believed that even if her resolve changed that she would be able to win. "May we enter?" A knock came at the door, but only after a voice called from behind it. There was only one person who talked like Daisy did, so Hanako had no doubts who had come calling. But, she chose to remain silent. She was not in the mood to speak with anyone. Not even with Daisy. "If you say nothing, we will assume the room is vacant and have to thoroughly search to be sure you are not in." "You know very well I am in here." Her response was met by her door opening, and Daisy immeadiatly walked in after closing it behind her. "You entered my room" Hanako pointed out in shock after leaving the cover of her cushion, which rolled from her head as she turned around to face the invader. "We always shared a room" Daisy smiled back as she leaned against the doorframe with her hands gripping the handle, "so we are surprised that you look so befuddled by that." Rather than choosing to respond to that. Hanako rolled herself within her own quilt and became buried in her duvet once more. She huddled her legs into a fetal position in order to escape the first obvious move Daisy would take against her had her feet been left exposed. It was one of her more ticklish points after all. There was nothing but a vacuum of silence, save for a couple of taps or other such non-whimsical things Daisy did when there was nothing to do. It wouldn't be right to say it was impatience, but rather a need to do something. "Should we talk, or do you wish to remain a chrysalis for the remainder of our occupation?" ". . ." With no response to be heard save for a few more rufflings in the quilt as Hanako prepared herself for a personal siege. Daisy however, had a better idea than waiting out this pseudo-war of attrition. . . . *THWOMP* "Kah!" The sudden pressure of weight being pressed upon Hanako caused her to cry out. As she struggled to free herself from her own confines. As she poked her out, gasping for the air she was now craving after nearly suffocating in that humid environment wrapped in fabric, she saw the cause of her retreat from the safety of her bed covers; Daisy was there lying across her bed, with a cat like expression plastered across her face from cheek to cheek, swinging her legs up and down and resting her head in her hands. Of course it was her. Who else would know how to get her out of bed quite in that manner. "What the hel-" Hanako was cut off from speaking by a finger over her lips. She consciously stopped as the light sensation touched her, and looked directly into Daisy's eyes as she recollected herself and responded properly. "You were there at the magic evaluation tests they did every year at the Association. Of course you know why I couldn't go through with it." "We know that you are not strong enough to supply a servant" she replied taking her hand away, "but that shouldn't be your reason for giving up so soon before the war arrives." Daisy adjusted herself from laying into a seated position just on the edge of Hanako's bed. "There are other ways to transfer mana from one magus to anoth-" "I will not be taking a blood seal, if that's what you are suggesting." "Of course" Daisy said, waving her hand as if to discard that option in its entirety. "Your distaste for blood hasn't changed in a few hours, we are aware. We were going to offer another option to you instead "How?" Hanako should have immediately regretted that question when Daisy's eyes sparkled like stars, and the upper part of her face eclipsed over a shadow. "How all the damsels in distress do; with a kiss." . . . Red. That was all that Hanako felt and imagined after hearing that last word. It took her a while to collect enough thoughts together in order to reply, but even then it was a mismatch of several small ideas pieced together with great haste. "Wah! Wh-what are you saying?" "Kiss; an exchange of affection by touching or caressing with the lips." Daisy's impression of Bran, while not perfectly mimicked his voice was nearly perfect in replicating his mannerism. Neither of these conditions were amusing to Hanako however. Her eyes suddenly widened. "You didn't-" Daisy, understanding just what her best friends was about to imply, pulled back her hair to expose her neck. True enough, Hanako could see a red painted seal that resembled a celtic knot with three runes too small to read without pressing your face closer. Rather than saying it looked painted on, it appeared closer to a tattoo, but Hanako recognised the same form of magic imprinting that she had applied to her own command seals when she grafted them originally. It was not as intricate or ornate, but it would serve its purpose well. Based on her own perception of course. "Ours was just to the back of our neck. We may not be locked in wedlock, but we are engaged whether we wished to be or not. There may be no witnesses, but the honour of one's House demands that serious commitments be held steadfast. If one let another man who is not to be our husband take our lips, then there would be a scandal forthright." "But why?" Hanako asked. "We may not have the most dire need, but we will need to command many other contraptions as well as a servant. Having that little extra juice for the fuel doesn't hurt." "Contraptions? You mean, the bio-metal dolls?" Hanako replied. "Bingo" she winked in reply. Daisy released her hair and allowed the locks to fall down the sides of her shoulders again. "If you do not want the blood on your skin" she then said as she made a few adjustments to a couple of inconvenient strands, "then there are a many other ways to go about this. Most might end up causing you to either become a vegetable or they could cripple you for life. We think that an exchange of mana through internal means would work just as efficiently, but would have to be taken on a regular basis." What Daisy was telling her was already known to Hanako to a certain extent. They had been in the same classes for a very long time, so it wasn't uncommon that much of their knowledge was mutually shared. The transferring of mana between magus had been a common practice within the entire community since the creation of magecraft. Magus with poor circuitry or high consumption were often in dire needs of replenishment via outsourced means, so it wasn't such a foreign idea to begin with. "Kissing is just the easiest" Daisy continued to explain, "but it is also the one that would need regularly topping up. Daily, most likely, which will take up a lot of precious time in the day that could very well cost you your life." "Then . . what other methods are there?" "Incubation." " . . . " Hanako had no idea how to respond to that. She wasn't even sure if she had quite heard what Daisy had just suggested she do there and then. She could have sworn she had just heard her best friend tell her to do that which no decent person would dare speak aloud in public unless absolutely hushed beyond audial reception. "We're sure if you asked Bran, he would do it-" "Do you even hear yourself right now?" Hanako yelled as she cut her off. "Our ears are still in top form, thank you very much." Daisy rubbed the back of her right ear, massaging away the sudden volume of pain that enveloped it during Hanako's burst of noise. "I am seriously questioning that." Hanako was at her limits with what she was hearing; not only was her friend suggesting that in order to that she would have to regularly have to perform that which she had no experience with whatsoever, but was also suggesting that she would make this work with Bran of all people. Hanako had nothing against Bran, but Daisy didn't own him and had no right to just offer him up like this. Even if he was gullible and easily befuddled, he wasn't a class-a dish to be served so lighthandedly on a silver platter. "We asked you before if you would still follow us, and you never once denied that" Daisy reminded her, completely skipping over the last conversation like it no longer too presidence. "Backing down now after following for so long is-" "I can't qualify as a master" Hanako replied, ducking her head downwards towards her knees below the quilt. "I don't have the magic potential to do so." "You have a good number of magic circuits" Daisy replied, drawing imaginary lines of Hanako's right arm without physically touching it. "You have more than the average. Twice as many in fact. They may be of poor quality, but with enough juice in the system, they could be put to work just like any circuit." Hanako barely listened as Daisy tried her hardest to encourage her. It didn't matter how many a person had. If those same circuits were damaged or misshapen, it would be the same as using a cup made of chocolate to hold a hot beverage. No matter how ornate it was, it would melt after its first use. In both cases, it was a useless endeavour. "Bran darling is a one in a billion results" Daisy further explained, "and he is only that way because his family's blood was bred for generations like trophy studs. He has so much potential, but nothing to channel it into. You have so much at your use, but nothing to ignite it with. It's a poetically perfect situation when you look at it. It makes us quite jealous actually." Was it because Daisy knew it was enough just to provoke a reaction of her? How every time she was making this sort of joke at another's expense that it would seriously aggravate them? Hanako wasn't sure. "We mean, even the fact that your command seals look near identical save for a few careful alterations." "It was never meant to be so" Hanako shot back, but failed to discreetly cover her left hand while talking back. "And yet you made it in your own hands" Daisy said, as she grabbed the both of them from Hanako and held them apart within her own. "Had it been the Grail's choosing, then it would have been a cruel joke to say the least. But, you made them. The grail only gave them a purpose, whereas you gave them existence." Bran terrified her the first time she saw him. It hadn't been the best situation for either of them. With Daisy and Hanako leaving the Association to join with Nicholas in whatever his plans were at the time. It was a meeting of chance, but fate itself had played its hand. It started with a noise of death in the night, and very soon they had found themselves staring at a haggard looking boy draped in rags, with glowing golden eyes, sitting atop a mountain of priests pining across the fjord. Had he not passed out shortly after, and if Nicholas hadn't thought that he had potential he required, then he may have been left for dead if not killed where he lay. Bran wasn't aware of how close he was to have died when they unofficially first met. He took less than a day to recover, and all his wounds had miraculously healed over, though a broken bone in his right arm took more time which was frankly one of the more normal aspects about him. He spoke not a single word and barely moved within the first days he awoke in the room now allocated as his own. He would barely respond whenever he was asked a question, and his most active movements involved eating, disposing waste and sleeping. He would answer questions with nods or shakes, and depending on information, he would speak with very short words and sentences. It was no better than keeping a pet around, except with less energy involved, as Hanako could recall. Despite how , Nicholas was adamant to keep him around. Neither Hanako, nor Daisy or even Sinnika, knew why he made this choice despite getting very little out of him. Daisy joked that Nicholas wanted another boy i the group to avoid being labelled a playboy, but was met without any gesture. Nicholas wanted to make this official enlistment, without Bran's own consent on the matter which was considered non-negotiable, so he had Hanako make him a command seal which at the time was just an ordinary marks on the skin with no discernible qualities except in appearence. When Hanako took to her strokes across his hand, he almost twisted away in fear, but his hand never moved once. His eyes were so blood shot that large orbs of pink with blue spots stared at her throughout the entire process. As she finished up, he said and did nothing but look upon it. There was no positive or negative reaction, but he didn't even appear to process just what had happened to his own skin. When Hanako showed him hers, he stared back and forth between the two of them several times over. His head didn't appear to quite understand what this was about for a long while, until he at last looked back at his longer than ever. "It was the first time I had seen him smile" Hanako expressed after reminiscing that last moment. "And it made your heart skip a beat right?" "Not quite like that" Hanako replied, almost tempted to roll her eyes. "Heartwarming, yes. I don't think it was anything further." "It's a good start." Daisy stood up from her bed and her feet started walking further and further away until she was on the opposing side of the room. "We still need you" she said as her hand reached for the handle. "No one else, but you, . . . Hanako." "Is this 'we' the group" Hanako replied, "or do you mean the you 'we'?" "You should know us long enough to distinguish the two." She left the room without another word, and the door closed behind her. The room was silent, as Hanako lay herself back on her bed, contemplating her last exchange. Chapter (二) There was a knock at her door several minutes later. It had reached the quarter before midday, and Hanako had remained locked insider her room. She had long since exited the safety of her covers and instead lay top portion out of the duvet of her bed when the sound aroused her from her laid position. "Miss Hanako, it's Bran. May I enter?" "Come in" she replied, as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, but still wrapped below her waist. Bran opened the door, poked his head around, before his whole body entered through and closed it as he walked on. "Miss Daisy said that I should talk to you." "There's no need" Hanako replied almost instantly. "You're here to convince me to go through with the summoning too." "That was the intention." He scratched his head a few times while looking slight off tangent. Suddenly unable to comprehend his next steps like a well programmed computer program that had one line of code altered in the middle of progression and was now lagging. "Then, there is nothing to discuss." She didn't say it with a huff, but she did turn her whole self away from him after that. The door didn't open again, nor did any sounds of footsteps erupt in the room, which signaled to her that Bran had yet to leave. Bran himself could't contemplate what he should do next; after all, this in itself was a new experience for him, and not even a reference from media would have been familiar enough with him to replicate in this given situation. He felt so out of place that half of his instinct was telling him to leave, however the other half of him was preventing him from moving out of an innate desire to talk. "Are you . . . disappointed in me?" Hanako asked after the silence finally got to her. ". . . I, I was going to ask if you were dissatisfied with myself actually." Although not prompted by anything, Bran took his stepped forward and sat at the opposing side of the bed to Hanako, with their backs only just avoiding touch. He said nothing for a while, as they both of them kept their heads facing their opposing directions. "I don't know how to distinguish love. I know what I like and don't like, but I have never had the comprehension to weigh them up and place them numerically in order." He placed his right hand on the bed, wiping it across the duvet as it he was searching for something without looking for it directly. "I know a lot, but understand little. I remember well, but struggle to comprehend. I know I prefer being here to being with the Church. I can say that with certainty. Confidence in my assertions are very high." Hanako could hear him smack his lips, but still made no effort to look at him. He was in all likely hood trying to make a tutting sound but had not learned how it was made as of yet. Only a guess, but one that was heavily educated. "If I had to weigh up everyone we know" he continued after two or three more attempts before he stopped, "I would have to say that I like you better than Daisy, Nicholas and Sin. I think you are a much more gentle soul, and I appreciate that about you. Nicholas is commanding, which he needs to be. Daisy is eccentric, Sin is reserved, and I am . . . bland?" "That's pretty harsh to say" she replied, almost having to stifle back an unexpected snort. The tone of his voice indicated he knew not of what she had found so amusing about his comment and continued on regardless. "True though. I feel like I have no discernible character except flaws. I know of sarcasm and when people apply it, but I don't understand what any of it means or makes reference too. There is a lot of magecraft that I cannot use because I never practiced any of it. I have most of it digested in my head, but I cannot comprehend action and reaction to make it work. Then, there's also the 'other side of me'." 'The golden eyes' Hanako's thoughts reminded her. Even in the darkness, two glowing ambers burned brightly in her memory. No longer than a flicker, but it was haunting. "The black-outs when the . . . I don't know what happens or what I do when I am him, but I am always surrounded in blood." Bran clenched his fists so hard you could hear the bone popping and creaking, and then the release sounded as if they had become fricative. The way the description was beginning to match the sound made Hanako a little queasy. "Mine, or another's blood. I never recollect where it comes from, but my hands are as sticky as Bluebeard's after the blackouts. Even if they had been washed before hand. I wash them again, and I see as Lady Macbeth did." He rubbed his hands inside each other, as if he was replicating washing them in a basin. He couldn't see the blood now, but the texture was always there. It had been for some long that to be exempt from it was queerer to the normality prefitted in his mind's eye. Sometimes . . . he could still taste it on his teeth. That horrid iron flavour that reminded him of times of terror. Horrid, but another taste that could never be escaped. "I can't say if there is any love. Maybe a sort of kinship like a 'philiac' sort of love, but I wouldn't say that I had an 'erotic' sort of love for anyone. I understand the meaning of those words, but I wouldn't quite know how to distinguish to two if I felt them." Bran tilted his head back as he gazed upon the walls. It was very much like his own walls, as neither he and apparently Hanako had dared touch them since being gifted them by Daisy at their respective times. It wasn't plain, but it had been very much left as a collective rather than a individual's room. Bran could describe the mess of papers tacked to Nicholas' walls, or the posters and portraits taped or nailed in Daisy's. Even Sin had taken the opportunity to at least repaint her room, but she had stopped at one wall and used it like a blackboard which was why it had become graffitied with chalk strokes. "I would much rather be useful of my own volition, than be a tool that knows of nothing else except being used by someone else." He adjusted his sitting a little to accommodate his knees being used as rests for his weary arms. "It's because we are going to be a team. I trust you, like I trust Nicholas or Sin or Daisy. I know that you will all make good use of me while you need to. "Reliance isn't a good way to live" Hanako had to tell him. She had been silent until now, but Bran was in serious need of a reality check from her point of view. Her response wasn't particularly harsh, not that Bran would be able to tell. "But" he responded, "it's the only way I know how to live. I only existed for a purpose that I never understood for most of my life. When I broke out unconsciously, I found that I then had nothing. When I found all of you, I found that I was no longer existing, but living." Bran looked into his right palm, flexing his fingers in and out as if he was holding his very heart in his hand. The thumping reflecting against his tips. How easy for it to suddenly be crushed or stop all together. Such simple fragility. "If people can rely on me, then I can be contempt with that. It sounds much less of a bad thing than being a thorough bred against my free-will." Hanako could not think of anything to say to that. She could now feel his eyes at the back of her head, burning with a brightness familiar but also different in intensity to how she would imagine it. She almost awaited a grab for her shoulder or even her hand, but it never came. "I will be of any help you need" he replied from his short distance. "I will spill enough of my own blood if need be. If you lose an arm or a leg, you can take mine. It might grow back, it might not, but it is yours to take." . . . "What do you wish for?" she asked him. "Wish?" "Your reason for seeking the Holy Grail. The grail know you have a desire it can fulfil, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to participate." "I wish to continue living. Not existing. Living. Be it short or long, and whatever happens, I want to live. I want to live and know that I am living." He may not have been able to explain it well in his own words, but Hanako understood what he was saying; It was a dream of unbounded liberty. Something only a person who didn't understand the world, or saw it from an entirely different perspective from the rest of the world. It was something that only an adult could explain, but only a child could grasp. It was unrealistic and unfathomable for Then again, it was not out of reach from the Holy Grail. The one item in creation that could change reality to fulfill that dream. It was very much possible. Despite having asked that very question, Hanako herself was unaware of her own desire for the Grail. She had a few ideas, but she was not entirely sure what she wanted in particular. Which of her aspirations was strong enough to yield the power to potentially make it so. "We both may die in this war" she said. "Yes." "We may even, through unfortunate circumstances, be the ones that kill each other." "I have considered that probability." It seemed to Hanako that she had not been the only one to fully understand the ramifications . There was more than one way to eliminate the competition in a Holy Grail War besides culling the servants one by one. If there was no master, the servant would eventually fade without a constant supply of prana. "And yet, you would still offer me this aid, knowing that I may be the one to stab you in the back." She couldn't face Bran with that answer. The very thought of it was shedding water. He held back the urge to sniffle as she disguised her answer as emotionlessly as Bran. "You may" he replied, with a hint of a sign before his words; "the future Hanako may be an enemy. The future Hanako may be the one that kills me. But the Hanako sitting with me is kind and I like her. I trust her, and I am willing to give you whatever aid I am able." . . . . . . . . . 'Idiot.' She took off her tie and undid her top button. It was only when he heard the articles of clothing hit the floor did Bran suddenly question her actions. "What are you doing?" "If you are so willing to be relied upon, then I'll accept your offer." She took off her waist coat and removed both her gloves from her hands. "If you are going take on my burdens, then I will entrust all of it unto you." Chapter (三) Daisy waited as patiently as she could for a good hour before she was tired of refilling her cup with the same variety of tea for the fourth time in a single space of time. Earl Grey was usually her favourite, but now she was getting rather irked by continuously tasting the same flavour as it drew colder and colder after each pouring. "*tap*tap* You. Like. Another. Mistress?" Daisy raised her hand against another cup from Manus. Anymore and she would be in dire need to powder her nose in the latrines. She had let Assassin dematerialize for the time being, as Bran had also done with Saber, as there was no need to have them present all the time. Especially not in her domain where she was perfectly safe from the rest of the world. She received a single message from Klaus within the time spent waiting for the her comrades within the grounds. He wasn't much for sending complex details, leaving only a couple of sentences. One said Sin had gotten around to summoning her servant Caster. Two was that Klaus was going to do the same. Do you see what she meant by that? The sounds of footsteps descending the stairs altered her that she was no longer needed to wait anymore. To her relief, but also to her curiosity, both Bran and Hanako's figures came into view. Side by side at almost the same pace. Unusually calm at that, as Daisy witnessed before either of them locked sights with her staring at the two of them walking almost side to side. "Oh" Bran said with a startle that didn't affect his expression, "I do apologise, Miss Daisy. I hadn't realised you were waiting." "Hmmm." Instead of giving a verbal response as they had anticipated, Daisy rose from her seat. Her cup may have been empty, but she continued to sip at it without relieving them both from her vision. " . . . D-Daisy?" Hanako inquired. "It seems that our worries were unfounded, yes?" Her response was so immediate that it caught the both of them by surprise. "I do not under-" "Judging by the relief of stress I am seeing, we can very much guess what has happened without needing to ask." Oh how she could have continued to play with that fiddle if she had the time, but she decided that this was an issue for the mature and neither of those two could be considered grown-up enough emotionally to even be considered letting in on the discussions one allocated for mummy and daddy. At least one of them had to claim to be social adept or nothing would ever proceed. At least that was how she interpreted it. "We have asked you many time, Hana-bou, but this is now your last chance to back down. Will you, or will you not, stand with us as a Master of the Black Faction?" "I am ready" Hanako replied. The face of determination burned so much stronger than when she had previous ascended those stairs, which made Daisy please to see. The doors flew open to the dining hall again as her answer resonated in the mansion. "Excellent" Daisy said. "Proceed; Creeo, Scriibo, if you would both be so kind." The two dolls repeated their work and went to create a second circle with the remainder of Bran's blood that had been left over in the bucket. The process was a simple repetition of works that would make a human sore to have been forced this task after having only done so less than a day before. That was one aspect that made dolls superior to this task. Apart from their absolute obedience to their mana supplier, of course. When it was completed, Hanako took a deep breath and walked closer to the circle. Daisy handed an object to Mannus and he passed it along to Hanako, who then placed it at the centre. The catalyst had been an object familiar to Hanako, but not something she had been expecting to see. A shard of broken glass that had belonged to a mirror when it was once a completed sheet. It was not silver glass as modern mirrors were made, but of a darkened glass that would have been placed in front of a metal back to increase its reflectiveness as was the extent of mirror making techniques before the 17th century. Having oplaced her chosen item at the heart of the blood stained drawing, Hanako held out her hand and poured her own magic upon it. The energy that he had given her. It was more than she needed, but she was able to feel it burning through her circuits. Much like how a copper wire would feel the tingling of electricity running between its electrons as the current works its way through the cycle. The blood reacted well, becoming a dark crimson glow that started to spark a little in a few places, not that many were paying attention to such details at the time. Not even Hanako herself noticed what was happening while she read aloud her chant from memory; Mirror on the floor, Act as anchor to their soul, Signed in glass and blood. By this foundation, I pay to you in tribute, And align with black. To the forefather, The Norman Conqueror King, I pray for blessings. The wall will collapse, Without a wind to stir it, And the gates will close. The crown comes again, Seeking the kingdom’s return, At the three crossroads. I call you to arms, Come into my service I plea, I swear now hereby. My fate is a sword, To do away with our foes, Your soul will be mine. The grail beckons you, Answer the divine summons, Will and reason calls. Clouded in chaos, Bound to the cage of madness, I see through thine eyes. This one will not turn, I shall be the commander, Who rules this chaos. This ring of restraint, It shall be bound no longer, Now taste your freedom. Come to me, servant; The Demon of the Mirror, I call you out now! At the end of a chant, every jumped in surprise at the sound of glass breaking. Everyone looked to the windows as cracks erupted and even to the mirrors where the shards were splintering. Piece by piece they tore themselves free into blades that disintegrated into grains of sand as they started getting dragged into the magic of the circle. A black smog started forming, and the smell of burning iron became potent, though all that was visual was becoming harder in the onslaught of granules and smoke. Even the smell was starring . . . *SNAP* A great metal chain snapped in two, and then followed by at least six or seven others. The great weights smashed upon the floor, causing all who were present to fall under the tremors, until all that had sudden gathered to fruition. . . . . . . . . . There she appeared. A darkened figure, with a very large scythe in hand.--> Epilogue (後) . . . . . . "Um, hello?" Hanako called out to the servant who had her back to her, but found no reply. As the light started to readjust to the room, she could see that much of the circle had disappeared, but a lot of the blood that remained was still trinkling out from a new source. "She's a Berserker" Daisy explained before Hanako could call out again, "so her ability Mad Enhancement is going to prohibit her speech. Don't worry about her oath, her affliction with madness is contract enough. Supposedly. "Berserker?" Hanako found it hard to believe that such a servant of small stature could possible possess such an immeasurable strength. In all the records detailing the Holy Grail Wars, the Berserker-class was famed with servants that were usually gigantic in size or looked absolute terrifying upon sight. But she didn't see any fear where she was standing as it was. The figure before her didn't look so savage as she would have assumed; her dress was regal and even had various precious metal chains and jewelry hanging from her. The only more unsettling thing she saw was a large scythe being held over her knees. The blade and the brunt were visible at either side of her despite the vastness her dress enveloped her surroundings. "Yes, that is a Berserker-class servant" Daisy asserted. "Frightfully strong, but they take up a lot of magic to keep energised because they have no sense of monitoring or sparing energy when they go rampaging. Good thing we took care of that problem, yes?" Hanao chose not to make a reply to that comment, but couldn't help but feel a quick flush run to her face. neither of which were terribly important right know however. Berserker continued to make no sound but silence. It wasn't even any assurance that she was breathing at all. She did not even move from her spot. She looked more like a mourner kneeling to a grave than to a blood-thirsty killing machine. "Where did you get that mirror shard from?" Hanako asked, turning her head back to her friend. "Hampton Court Palace, of course." "And, how was it smashed, may I asked?" Daisy shrug her shoulders to that question as if she was about to say 'how the hell should I know.' Perhaps or perhaps not replacing the word "I" with "we" for consistency's sake. Instead she replied "there are many guesses, but the mirror hung in the monarch's room. The dating matches its construction, so its been there for a very long time. But, it could've been broken at any given point, be accident or purposely." "How did you even acquire it? Who would even think to sell a shard of glass that they claimed belonged in a palace?" "Surprisingly, we took this from the Association's collection, before we left. They didn't even notice us walking unto their private properties before we nabbed it under their noses." Daisy took her fan and placed over he mouth, and started reciting. "Look to the mirror one dark and stormy night. / And when you call her thrice a time be wary. / Prepare your soul for the sight of a moonlit fright. / Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." To everyone else who heard Daisy's little rhyme, it may have only been something childish meant to strike up humour. But at the sound of that name, the Berserker of Dusk started twitching her head. Her ears pricked up at the last sentence, but only after the third repetition. It was an unnatural sight, like a marionette being plucked up by a piece of string without consideration from realism. Her face continued to stay facing away, and her body still remained kneeling to the ground, but her scythe was heard clambering over the floor as it was being raised and adjusted. ". . . hEhE . . . hhEhEhEhEh . . . A-hEhEhEhEhEhE-hUhEhEhEhhEhEhEhEh." Berserker started making a noise. It wasn't clear at first was kind of squeak or inhaling, but then it started to break into a rhythmatic laughter that could not be categorised as either giggle, chuckle or hysteric. It would barely classify as a sane man's gibe. And then her head started turning around. Bushels of hair were misplaced and misshapen like they had either been left to grow wild or had been pulled and rotted with lack of care. The people who looked upon her stepped back when they gazed upon the almost forcible contractions of her cheeks. ". . . hhEhEhEhEh-EeEhEh . . . AhEhEhEhhEE-hEhEhEhEhEhE-hUhUhUhUhU-hAhEhEhEhhEhEhEhEhAhEh." The sight of her servant's face was enough to make Hanako squeamish again as she closed her hands over her face. Down Berserker's face, was tears of blood, and a reddened smile through stained teeth. Dark eyes, and streams of red tears dripping down her Cheshire grin. Her eyes were empty and reflective, as if she was only looking at a reflection of herself in those vast and blank irises and sclera. "hEhEhEhEhEhEh. hU-EhEhEhEhEhEhA-hA-hA."